It’s been 48 hours since my beautiful city was attacked. 48 hours since 22 lives were taken. 48 hours since many more lives were impacted in ways we’ll never really be able to measure.

I’m broken hearted.

I can’t find the words to express how I feel. Shocked, saddened, scared, angry, confused. But what I can say is that I’m proud that the city I love; the city I call home has not been broken.

I worry for my oldest child and what he’s thinking about, what he’s saying or hearing in the playground and if I can really reassure him that things will be ok.

I want to wrap them both in cotton wool and squeeze them for years, protecting them from this horrible, horrible world.

But I’m his mother, his Mancunian mother. And because of this I must keep on going. I must embody the spirit of our Manchester bee and be proactive, industrious and collaborative. I must, as we say,  keep on buzzin’.